Specialagent etoy.FRED - 刘嘉 Liu Jia (first pic, right) did an excellent job negotiating the best quotes for our gadget demands. Early in the evening, housewives gathering in public for gymnastic exercises and fun in front of namoc.

The SYNTHETIC TIMES exhibition at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) features the SARCOPHAGUS and MISSION ETERNITY from June 9 to July 3, 2008.

In the context of the current political controversy, the possibility of boycott has been discussed extensively and dismissed: the etoy.SHAREHOLDERS decided at today's annual meeting to put the full power of the etoy.BRAND behind the propagation of shared cultural value in China. Specific action to implement this objective includes:

1. Sending four agents to China for the full duration of the show with the objective to maximize the interaction with local art consumers, officials, farmers, expatriates, lamas, children, migrant workers, chuppies, and internet entrepreneurs.
2. Providing public access to Timothy Leary's digital and mortal remains inside the SARCOPHAGUS at the gates NAMOC.
3. Running workshops at local universities and art spaces.
4. Networking with Chinese partners to access local markets during activities organized by Pro Helvetia and Presence Switzerland, as well as establishing new trading platforms for the etoy.CONTAINER logistics department.

BIG QUESTION: maybe we must change from round hole (170cm diameter) to a square hole (170x170cm). this connection from the "info tunnel" to the sarcophagus is cruitial. a square hole would allow us to create a better flow of visitors.

challenge: to channel up to 20'000 visitors a day trough the SARCOPHAGUS.

solution to at least handle up to 10'000 customers a day: a simple white wooden INFO TUNNEL in which ca 50-80 waiting visitors can be informed by a video running on 3-5 large screens (run time: 2-5 minutes ...according to the mass of people / speed).

INSIDE THE SARCOPHAGUS: between 10 and 15 people can experience a 2minute leary loop (listen watch etc).

etoy never dealt with such a massive flow of visitors and spends the first 3 days after the opening with modification of speed, information load, leary loop, customer feedback etc.

etoy invited advisors and agents to discuss the current China strategy. By invitation of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) MISSION ETERNITY is scheduled to present the SARCOPHAGUS during June in Beijing. Some agents harbor reservations about many political and social policies of the current Chinese government: a discussion about the T-words was overdue!

Smart insiders including political scientist and philosopher Dr. Ralph Weber from the University of St.Gallen briefed etoy about the current political system, its diversity and specific risk factors. A researcher of Chinese origin from ETH Zurich and a Swiss PHD student who worked for a year in Beijing offered anecdotes and insights into the Chinese education system and popular views including the widely-held conviction that of all things Western, political advice may be worth less than nothing.

Markus Nuessli (long time etoy friend, gallerist, night club owner and Asia expert who spent several years of his life in China / Japan and holds a master in japanology) completed the round of China-insiders.

Aside political risks and taboos, we discussed how to present MISSION ETERNITY project details to an expected visitor count of over 25,000 a day. What are the key questions to ask from the audience? What are the thoughts, in a culturally very different reference system, that sync an audience with the mindset of etoy.AGENTS? Where can we be understood and where do we risk to confuse (like we never confuse our audience)?

Dr. Maja Petrović-Šteger (a Research Fellow at Peterhouse college, and member of the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge) contributed knowledge and advise as mortal remains expert. Ideas to integrate and reflect local burial ceremonies are on the way!

Inhouse council and lawyer etoy.KUBLI contributed his delicious and politically correct BAERLAUCH-PESTO to avoid further tomato import from spain.

We invite everybody to express their personal impression/position and feedback in the comment section of this post.